Covering a Weight

This is one of those totally indispensable articles we have on our workbenches. I cannot do leatherwork without my two weights. Why Leather Covered? You cannot bring naked ferrous metals into contact with wet veg tan leather - a chemical reaction will immediately start to discolor the leather where the metal is touching. More about Tom McLintic later, but for now: He is one of the most artistic leather crafters on the planet and he shares all his knowledge widely  -  like he is a South African Al Stohlman. It is with his permission that I am posting these instructions and hopefully the many still to come. So here it is:

Here is a cigar case drying between two leather covered lead blocks. These two weights were done in a very similar way to what Tommy describes in his drawings for us here. (Updated 26 October 2019)

Stitching Holes

This is how the holes are made by a diamond shaped awl, positioned on marks made by a stitch marking wheel or pricking irons. Stitching with the leather clamped in a stitching pony is not always possible for beginner leatherworkers - that is where this next video comes in - if you do not have a stitching pony. The series of videos referring to "Making a knife sheath", all show different techniques. This one ends with doing a one-needle-one-hand stitch that gets the same basic result as a saddle stitch:

(Updated 22 October 2019)